Internal-combustion engine



M3915, 1923. 1,45%934 C. M. LEECH ERNAL COMBUS TION ENGINE ld July 12. 1920 Patented May 15, 1923.

isten UNITED stares raven-r oreics.

CHARLES M. LEECH, OF LIMA, OHIO; CHARLES E. KINDELL ADMINISTRATOR OF SAID CHARLES M. LEEGH, DECEASED.

INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE.

Application filed July 12,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES M. Lnncrr, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lima, in the county of Allen and State of 6 Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Internal-Combustion Engines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to an improvement 10 in internal combustion engines and has particular reference to engines of the general type disclosed in prior patents granted to me, including Patents Nos. 914,292, 1,068,- 595, 1,082,494, 1,099,065 and 1,138,876, and 16 is also the type disclosed in my pending applications' Serial Nos. 294,263, filed May 2, 1919, and 370,508, filed April 1, 1920.

, In the above mentioned patents and applications I have disclosed internal combus- 20 tion engines wherein the piston is composed of a working portion which functions in the usual manner, and a pumping portion which during one stroke draws into a chamber beneath the working portion of the cylinder a combustible mixture, and during the opposite stroke compresses the charge and forces it either into the working portion of the next adjacent cylinder when the invention is used in' a multiple cylinder engine, or into a compression space or chamber from which the mixture is delivered to the working portion ofthe cylinder when the intake ports are uncovered by the cylinder, this method of delivering the combustible mixture being utilized in the case of a single cylinder engine.

Whether the above mentioned features are embodied in an engine of the multiple cylinder or single cylinder type, it is desirable that the mixture be diluted by fresh air at higher speeds, or when the engine is delivering its greatest power, and I have heretofore proposed'to provide for the admission of air to dilute the mixtureby the provision of. an air port through which air is 'allowed to pass when the pumping portion of the piston is near the end of its suction stroke. In this connection I have here- ,tofore' proposed that this air besupplied either through simply a port controlled by no valve other than that which is provided by the piston itself, or by a separate valve such as a rotary valve which I proposed to couple up to. the throttle valve so that the air port would be entirelyclosed when the 1920. Serial No. 395,499.

throttle valve is moved toward its closed position, but would be gradually uncovered as the throttle valve is moved toward full open position. The provision of this auxiliary valve, to control the supply of air, connected to the throttle valve is shown in my pending application, Serial No. 370,508, referred to above.

The principal object of the present invention is to do away with the necessity of a separate valve for controlling the air for diluting the mixture and to take care of the dilution of the mixture when the throt tle valve is opened to a predetermined degree by a special construction of throttle valve and ports so disposed that the throttle valve will perform both functions of controlling the supply of combustible mixture to the cylinder or cylinders and control also the supply of air for diluting the mixture,

2 is'a detail View of the valve and associated ports showing the throttle valve in partially closed position, and preventing the supply of air to the mixture. I

' Referring now to the drawings, 10 represents the working portion of a cylinder and 11 the pumping portion. In this cylinder is a piston having a working portion 12 and a lower pumping-portion13, the former oper ating in the working portion 10 of the cylinder, and the latter operating in the pumping portion 11 of the cylinder. This piston will be connected by the usual connectin rod 14 to a crank of the crankshaft15. g s fully disclosed llle my, prior patents and applications, combustible mixture is supplied to the cylinder or cylinders of the engine by a rotary distributor 16 which will be connected to a carbureter. This distributor which is rotated preferably at half crankshaft speed, is provided with ports'17, one

of which at each half-revolution of the dis 1 tributor comes into registration with a port 18 leading to the pumping portion ll-ot the cylinder. On the down stroke of the piston a charge is drawn into the pumping portion of the cylinder through one of the ports 17 and the port 18, and on the up stroke the charge is delivered laterally by a passageway 19 into a chamber 20 of the next adjoining cylinder, and when the piston in the next adjoining cylinder is near the bottom of its stroke it uncovers a series of intake ports 21 which communicate with said chamber 20 and allow the mixture which is now under compression to pass into the working portion of the cylinder.

In the drawings 1 have shown simply one cylinder which may be regarded as one cyl inder of an engine having any number of cylinders, but it will be understood without further description, especially in view of my prior patents and applications wherein the mode of operation is fully described, that the cylinders and pistons work in pairs in the sense that the pumping portion of the piston of one pair causes the mixture to be supplied into the working portion of; the other cylinder of the pair, and that the pumping portion of the piston ot the last mentioned cylinder operates in a similar manner to supply the mixture to the working portion of the first-mentioned cylinder.

The supply of mixture through the inlet ports 21 is controlled bya rotary throttle valve 22, as illustrated in my prior patents and applications, and in the case of amultiple cylinder engine tlus valve will extend alongside all cylinders and function for all. oi them, it being understood that a portion of this valve will either cover or uncover the ports 21, depending upon the direction in which the valve is turned.

In accordance with the present invention, this valve functions not'only as athiottle valve, but controls the supply of air to the mixture in the pumping portion of the cylinder or each of them, and with that in view, the throttle valve which is cylindrical in shape is provided with two arc-shaped longitudinally extending recesses 22 and 22 The recess 22 is adapted to permit the mixture to pass from the chamber 20 through the ports 21 into the cylinder, and a portion of the valve between the recesses is adapted to close these ports 21 successively as the engine is throttled down.

The purpose ofthe recess 22 is to permit air to pass into the pumping portion 11 of the cylinder as the valve is opened, and to that end provide in the housing 23 for the throttle valve, a port 24 which communicates'with the recess 22 of the valve,

. and I provide in this valve housing a passageway 25, whose upper endis just below port 24 and is likewise adapted to communicate with the recess 22. The lower end of this passageway 25 in the valve housing communicates with a passageway 26 in the cylinder housing, which passageway extends down to near the bottom of the pumping portion 11 of the cylinder, and at its lower end communicates through a port 27 with the pumping portion of the cylinder. This port 27 is so located that when the pumping portion 13 of the cylinder reaches the bottom of a stroke it uncovers the port 27.

The action is :tollows: hen the throttle valve is only slightly open the upper end of the passageway 25 is closed by the valve, as shown in Fig. 2, so that air is not delivered to the combustible mixture, but as the throttle valve is moved from the position shown in Fig. 2 to the position shown in Fig. 1, which shows the throttle valve full open, the passageway 25 is uncovered by the valve so that air may pass from the port 24 and recess 22' of the valve and by the passageways 25 and 26 and port 27 to the pumping portion of the cylinder. In other words, when the piston reaches the bottom of its stroke a partial vacuum is formed in the pumping portion'of the cylinder, and when the pumping portion of the piston uncovers the port 27 a certain amount of air is sucked into the pumping portion or the cylinder. Air is thus supplied to thinor dilute the mixture to an extent depending upon the position of the throttle valve, but when the engine is throttled down, the air supply is cut off at; the throttle valve and the mixture is not diluted.

Thus the throttle valve performs the double function ofcontrolling the supply of mixture to the cylinder or cylinders, and .105

of: controlling the supply of diluted air to the cylinder or cylinders, and the necessity for a separate valve is eliminated.

Owing to the heavy character of fuels now used with gas engines, it is necessary in most instances to heat the incoming charge at the carbureter, thus expanding the charge before it enters the cylinders.

With the present invention having its auxiliary air intake wholly independent of thecarbureter, fresh air is admittedinto the pumping cylinder after the warm charge has passed the carbureter, therefore tempering it and allowing a maximum charge to enter into the working cylinder. T

It willbe understood that in a multiple cylinder engine the arrangement of ports 24-. .25, 26 and 27 will be the same forall cylinders, and it will be understood also that the same arrangement maybe utilized;

for a single cylinder'engine, such for example, as illustrated in my application, Serial No. 370,508.

Havingdescribed myinvention, I claim: 1. In an internal combustion engine, a

, mixture cylinder, a piston therein, means for supplying combustible mixture to the cylinder, a throttle valve controlling the supply of which air is supplied to the mixture before its admission past the throttle valve, said valve controlling said means.

2. In an internal combustion engine, a cylinder, a piston therein, a chamber through which a combustible charge is supplied to the cylinder, a passage from said chamber to the explosion chamber, a throttle valve controlling said passage, means comprising a passageway for supplying air to the mixture in the chamber, said passageway being controlled by said throttle valve.

3. In an internal combustion engine, a cylinder having a piston, a chamber through which a combustible charge is supplied to the cylinder and including a port communicating with the cylinder, means comprising a port and passageways by which air is suppllied to the mixture in the chamber when the throttle valve is opened a predetermined amount, and a throttle valve having portions adapted to cover and uncover the first-named port and to cover and un cover the second-named port. I

4. In an internal combustion engine, a cylinder having a working portion and a to the cylinder, and means by pumping portion, and a piston having Working and pumping portions co-operatworking portion of the cylinder and for controlling the supply of air to the pump ing portion of the cylinder.

5. In an internal combustion engine, a. cylinder having working andpumping portions,'a piston therein having working and pumping portions, means for supplying combust1ble,mixture to the pumping portion of the cylinder, one or more ports communicating with the Working portion of the cylinder to supply mixture thereto, means including passageways by Which air may be supplied to the pumping-portion of the cylinder when the piston is near the end of trolling the first named port or ports and said passageway so as to permit air to pass to the combustible mixture in the pumping portion of the cylinder when the port or CHARLES M. LEEOH.

its pumping stroke, and a single valve con 

